Haru: Acolyte, Level 9/20
Optifex: Initiate, Level 9/20
ErcuEmu: Legionnaire, Level 10/20
Alara: Apprentice, Level 10/20
Tacito: Footpad, Level 7/20
The deeper Haru got into the cave, the worse the pain in her chest grew. They were only 50 steps from the entrance, but the very edges of her vision began to dim despite the scars being much farther inside.
“Roo, are you alright?” Opti, who was ahead, spontaneously turned to Haru.
Haru took labored breaths. “Y—yeah just suddenly not feeling well.”
Inside, Emu took stock of the cave’s interior and folded his arms. “This isn’t right at all.” He stopped and turned to everyone else. “There’s no sign of anyone having been here. Where’s all the mobs?”
“How do you know there’s not a party deeper inside?” Taci piped up.
Emu pointed toward the floor. “Usually someone would leave behind junk items, or there would still be a dead mob laid out that hasn’t despawned. There’s nothing.” Then he turned to look deeper into the cave. “And listen.” He paused, to let silence take over. “This cave isn’t that large. We would hear fighting if there were another party here.”
Alara huffed. “It’s a new game, there are going to be bugs. Let’s just see if we can finish this quest before I have to log off.”
Emu, Taci, and Alara continued deeper into the cave.
Haru hesitated, the desire to endure even more pain held her back.
“Do you want to wait here?” Opti sounded concerned.
The acolyte shook her head. “Let’s keep going, we need to stick together.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to push forward in order to stay with the rest of the party.
Shaped like a teardrop, the cave was relatively straight forward, the entrance being the narrow part of the tear. Near the bend where it widened was where Haru discovered the scarring some time ago. But as they grew closer to the site, she noticed the damage the demon had done was gone. Though for some reason, despite the lack of scarring, there still were no mobs to be found.
Inside the arena, the wide section of the teardrop, was supposed to be a Bal, a feathered bear with a lizard head. That was the main quest target, the mini boss they were supposed to fight. But like the rest of the mobs in the cave, it too was nowhere to be found. Instead, the item it dropped, Bal Scruff, laid on the ground. Five of them, one for each party member.
“Did someone forget to pick these up?” Emu stared at the cluster of feathers laid out in a semi-circle.
“Why would they come all this way just to not get what they needed for the quest?” Alara tilted her head to the side.
The pain in Haru’s chest told her everything she needed to know. The closer she got to the items, the worse the pain. This was on purpose. It was a message. Irae was urging them to continue.
Taci walked over to one of the feathers and picked it up.
“I think that’s someone else’s quest item.” Emu insisted.
The footpad looked around and shrugged. “They’re going to despawn soon anyways.” He pointed at the feathers that began to slowly blink.
Alara relented and scooped up a feather. “It doesn’t make sense to let them go to waste.”
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The items then started to fade with each quickening flicker. Opti stepped forward and picked up a feather.
Emu took a step toward the items and sighed. He looked out toward the entrance one last time before scooping one up for himself.
Haru braced herself and took a step forward toward the remaining feather. The closer she got to it, the more the agony surged. Forcing herself through the pain to reach out, the acolyte closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Then she gripped the item. Just before it despawned, the item entered Haru’s inventory.
In that moment, the pain disappeared completely. The sound of cackling swept through the cave and out onto the plain. It was the demon. As Haru suspected, this was Irae’s doing, a challenge for them to fight again.
“Well, that’s that then. Shall we get going?” Emu looked around.
Alara nodded.
Taci shrugged.
No one seemed to notice the demon’s laughter. Except for Opti, he stared toward the cave’s exit, braced as if he were expecting an imminent fight.
“It looks like we’re ready to turn this in. Shall we get going?” Emu looked around at the party.
The group acknowledged and agreed with his question. The initiate loosened up and also concurred.
Haru swallowed her unease and nodded along with everyone else. It seemed that as much as she was preparing to fight the demon, he was also preparing in turn.
The group departed and returned to the watchtower.
At the top of the brick structure was Guardsman Petyr surveying the area and awaiting their return. “It looks like you took care of that beast. And took one of its feathers as proof, good idea. I’m certain now everyone can sleep soundly knowing a creature like that won’t be causing any more trouble around these parts.”
After turning in the quest, Taci leveled up.
“Ding!” Emu smiled.
Guardsman Petyr had another quest. “While you were gone, one of my scouts came back and reported they found something down in the canyon that dried out from this drought we’ve been having. I can’t help but to wonder if it’s because of all this magic mumbo-jumbo that’s been going on, but I digress. It looks like there’s someone or something who recently took up residence in the Old Lord’s Keep. They’ve been causing havoc with their spells.”
The guard continued. “My scouts were turned away before we could confirm who or what is in there, but it can’t be anything good, considering all of the magic surging from that place now. I need you to go and figure out who’s in there and what they’re up to. Report to my lead scout Edwin and he can give you more information.”
The party regrouped at the intersection a few steps away from the base of the tower once everyone accepted the quest.
“So glad to be getting out of the starter area soon.” Alara stretched.
“What, you don’t like it here?” Haru masked sounding insulted.
“It’s okay, I guess.” Alara started. “But they lock you in here until you get through enough of the story. I don’t want to be trapped anymore.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” Haru couldn’t hide sounding disappointed.
“Only a few more quests, let’s keep going.” Emu motioned for everyone to follow.
They traveled through the deadwood forest once more, back toward the job change obelisk. Before getting to the dirt road, there was a small alcove off to the left side of the path. Unless you were looking for it, the spot was very easily missed.
Inside the small cave was a campfire and scout Edwin standing near it. Everyone turned in the quest to report to him.
The scout spoke. “Glad you finally arrived, adventurer. We’ve been tracking powerful magic coming from the Old Lord’s Keep down the path. It seems that someone has been trying to get into the Plentiful Glade but for some reason, the gate is blocked all of a sudden. We think whoever moved in up there caused it to seal. That gateway has to be opened, and fast. It’s important because that thoroughfare is the only way for us to get supply caravans in and out from this remote location. We need you to go in there and figure out what they’re doing and why they’ve suddenly blocked the only way out of this valley.”
The party completed the quest, which started another from Edwin. “You know what’s needed, right? Good luck, adventurer.”
The quest reward was exp and dobluens.
With everyone having accepted the quest, they departed back down the dirt trail which turned into the entrance of the dungeon.
Emu stopped and turned to the rest of the party just before they entered the opening. “This isn’t too hard of a dungeon, but it can get dangerous if we’re not paying attention.” He turned and approached the swirling translucent entryway. “The main story dungeons adapt to the number of people in the group, and I’ve never done this one with a full party, so I expect there to be a lot of resistance.”
Haru wondered if anyone had ever done it with five people. She never fought anything other than solo players.
Emu continued. “The ending is a bit strange. Even if you enter with a party, the last boss can only be fought solo. So before we continue, let’s make sure we go in at full health and mana. We won’t have the ability to heal in there.” He turned and winked at Haru. “Well, most of us.”
The legionnaire stepped through the translucent swirling portal and disappeared, despite being able to see the stone keep entryway on the other side. Everyone else followed suit and stepped through the gateway.
As Haru stepped through, a bright white light dazzled her. For a moment, she thought she spotted the city of gold afar. Then the image faded, and she found herself standing inside the Old Lord’s Keep.
On the other side, the sound of melee filled the space. The party was already engaged in combat.